Tag #144646 - Interview #78189 (itsik margolis)

I can write and read Yiddish. There were two schools with teaching in Yiddish in Dvinsk. At first we studied near the Dvina [Daugava in Latvian] River, there was a pre-school institution there. We studied there for about one year, I can't remember exactly. I can't even remember the teachers in that school. We hadn't studied there for long and we were transferred to another school, on Dvoryanskaya Street. In the first grade of school I remember there was a teacher named Maimin. Lern Maimin lived in Daugavpils, she's dead now. She entered the classroom, as I now recollect, and we rose up, and she said: 'Sit down! My name is Haya Maimin. You can call me Lern Haya,' or teacher Haya in Yiddish. I studied up to the 4th grade in that school. Lern Haya used to play the piano and sing and dance with us. She gave us good marks. Our class supervisor in 1940 was called Lern Kats, teacher Kats, her first name I have forgotten.

Every subject was in Yiddish. There was also Latvian language and the history of Latvia. We also had religious classes. We called the religion teacher Rebele. Religious classes were given quite frequently. I remember the teacher, a small rabbi. We had lots of out-of-school activities, too. Our school had a very good choir and dancing club.